


Small Steps

by frapandfurious, squire



Series: Big Brothers AU [12]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff, It's the little siblings' time to shine, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Prom, benarmie, sibling shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 09:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frapandfurious/pseuds/frapandfurious, https://archiveofourown.org/users/squire/pseuds/squire
Summary: It's senior year, and prom is approaching quickly. Rey and Techie want to ask each other, but are each convinced the other couldn't possibly want to go, even though they've been dating for nearly two years. For once, it's Ben and Hux's turn to help them get on the same page.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Switching things up a bit to a Rey and Techie-centric story, but with a healthy serving of Benarmie on the side, as well as some surprises. Takes place roughly two years after the wedding at the end of [Small Forces](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7586278/chapters/17262223). We hope you enjoy!

Techie unfolded the flier for the third time that morning alone, glumly reading over the words he'd memorized by now.

  
_Fly Me to the Moon_

_Class of 2019 Senior Prom_

_Friday, May 24_

_5:00pm - 11:00pm_

_Anthony’s Pier 9 Banquet Hall_

 

_Dance the night away with your best friends or a special someone!_

  
As the final warning bell rang and the last students shuffled into homeroom, he quickly folded it up and shoved it into the inside pocket of his binder. The last thing he needed was someone seeing it and teasing him for wanting to go.  
  
He almost couldn't blame them. He didn't know why he still had the flier, a week after the school started distributing them, when he knew nothing would come of it. It was Monday, and the deadline was Friday, and he still hadn't worked up the courage to ask his own girlfriend to go with him.  
  
It sounded ridiculous, even in his own mind. Rey was his _girlfriend_ , a thought which still made his cheeks warm and his fingers twist around the hem of his sweater. Why _wouldn't_ a pair of seniors who had been dating nearly two years go to prom together?  
  
Only...he didn't know if Rey even wanted to go at all. He'd known her so long and knew her so well, yet she continued to surprise him every day. Did she actually like dances? She danced with him at their brothers' wedding, sure, but that was a special occasion. Did she like dressing up? She dressed formally for the wedding, but the minute the ceremony was over she'd ditched her heels for flip-flops and let her hair down.  
  
To ask only to find out she had no interest in going, to hear her apologetic rejection...it was too great a risk. So it was better not to ask. But if he didn't ask would she be upset? But also, if she wanted to go, wouldn't she have said something by now? He didn't know, didn't _know_...  
  
"Clarence!”  
  
He looked up suddenly at the sound of his given name followed by hushed snickers. The teacher and the whole class had turned to stare at him in his spot in the back corner. The student in front of him was waiting with her hand extended, holding a paper out to him. Everyone else already had one, whatever it was.  
  
Techie's face heated. He'd missed everything the teacher said _and_ been called his first name in front of everyone. He'd asked this particular teacher what felt like a thousand times to call him Techie, or even _Hux_ like his brother, but neither stuck. Just one more thing about this place he couldn't wait to leave behind.  
  
With a sigh and a muttered _thank you_ he took the offered paper. His classmates turned back to the front and the teacher continued talking. This time, looking at the paper in front of him, he understood what was going on: it was time to order caps and gowns for graduation. That was two months away, he realized. He'd been so focused on his prom dilemma and nearly forgot about it.  
  
Thinking of graduation day made him in turn think of the one thing he _didn't_ want to leave behind.  
  
Rey.   
  
It made a little knot of anxiety form in his stomach, to think about the future and suddenly be uncertain how much Rey it would contain. He tried not to believe that the only thing that kept them together was school. He reminded himself that they were forever linked, for better or worse, through their happily married older brothers. He knew deep down that Rey was his best friend and that her family considered him one of their own and that they'd never just abandon him.  
  
All of it did little to kill the seed of worry within him, growing like a weed with every passing day.  
  
His breath was beginning to quicken and his vision was growing fuzzy. He shoved the form into his backpack, reached into his pocket where he kept his keys, one to his house and one to the Solos', and took slow breaths in and out, running a thumb over the keychain Rey had made for him years ago for Christmas.  
  
_It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay._  
  
When he opened his eyes, the bell was ringing and students were drifting out the door on their way to their first classes. He jumped up, slinging his backpack over one shoulder, and hurried out behind them.

  
  
*

  
  
A flurry of movement accompanied the final bell of the day as students shoved their things haphazardly into their backpacks and left the room quickly in little clusters. Rey and Techie lingered behind, carefully putting their things away and talking.  
  
Political science was their last class of the day. They'd taken it to fill in needed credits, and it was so different from their advanced courses where everyone cared so much. Their teacher was easygoing and eccentric, and they got to sit together and pair up for projects. It was a nice way to end the day.  
  
Rey looked over just as Techie was closing his binder and saw the corner of something poking out, a paper with a brightly colored border. She knew it immediately: the flier advertising their senior prom, which was plastered all over the halls and had been handed out to everyone in homeroom along with an order form for tickets.  
  
She'd seen it there every day for a week, where Techie must have tucked it away and forgotten about it. It was unlike him to carry anything he didn't need, a trait he'd picked up from his older brother, so she wondered why he even still had it.  
  
It certainly couldn't be because he wanted to go. If he did, why hadn't he asked her yet?  
  
_Maybe he wants to go, just not with_ ** _you_** _,_ she found herself considering.  
  
She frowned and shook away the thought. They were a real, actual couple now. "Going steady", as her parents put it. Techie wouldn't do that to her. If he wasn't asking, it was because he didn't want to go at all, period.  
  
It was this line of thought that had prevented her from asking _him_. Techie was shy, he hated crowds and noise. Other than at their brothers' wedding, she'd never seen him dance. He would dress nicely for honors banquets but preferred oversized t-shirts and cargo pants, which he thought helped hide his skinny frame a little.  
  
No, he wouldn't enjoy a school dance. And that was okay, really. She never wanted to push Techie into something he wasn't comfortable with.  
  
Yet it still bothered her, just a little gnawing sensation deep in her chest that was growing harder to ignore. She didn't understand it. She never cared much for dressing up. The same went for dancing, that was Ben's thing. All the girls she was friends with were older than her and had been to their own proms and since graduated. Other than Techie, her only friends in their grade were Poe, Finn, and Rose. Poe and Finn would be going together, and Rose was going solo and tagging along with them. 

Daydreaming in study hall, Rey would picture the five of them going as a group, sitting at a table together and watching their classmates make fools of themselves on the dance floor. And maybe...maybe she would imagine a slow song playing and Techie asking for her to dance with a shy smile...  
  
It just sounded fun, that was all.   
  
"Rey?"   
  
She blinked and finished slipping her notebook into her messenger bag as if on autopilot. When she looked up, Techie was watching her, his brow pinched.   
  
"You okay?"   
  
"Of course I'm okay."   
  
He slumped a little and she immediately regretted brushing off his concern. She'd never been good at this. He handled it so well, though. He knew _her_ so well, and accepted her so readily. She wondered if he knew how grateful she was for that.   
  
She slipped her hand into his for a moment.   
  
"I'm okay," she repeated, softer. "Just thinking."   
  
Techie smiled his sweet smile which still made her face flush. He squeezed her hand and they stepped out into the hall together.   
  
"My place or yours today?" He asked.   
  
"Neither." Then before his face could drop, she added, "Armie's. He got us those parts we need for our project, remember?"   
  
Techie nodded. His smile grew at her use of his brother's “secret” nickname. Rey knew it was reserved for Techie, but Hux let her use it too, in a thinly veiled attempt to win points with her. It wasn't necessary, she'd already given him and Ben her blessing, but who was she to pass up an opportunity to embarrass her brother-in-law?   
  
"They left the key under the mat for us," she continued, "Ben says we can study there if we want and he'll pick up pizza on his way home."   
  
"But-"   
  
"From the place we found that has a kind you can eat."   
  
“Oh. Awesome!” Pizza was a rare treat for Techie. "I'll grab my stuff and meet you at your locker?"   
  
Rey nodded and reluctantly released his hand. He smiled, paused, looked at her face for a moment like he often did before remembering they'd agreed not to do more than hold hands in school. Not that they did much more outside of school; cuddling, pecks on the cheek, going on dates, being less stingy with gifts and compliments. It was a natural extension of their years of competition which had grown into close friendship, and it suited them. They were both content to take things slow and enjoy each other's company while they focused on school.   
  
Techie walked away to his locker and Rey to hers, ignoring the little drop in her mood she always got watching him walk away. She hated watching people leave, an old deep-seated source of anxiety that she'd learned to live with. A memory prodded at the back of her mind, one of the earliest things she could recall.   
  
_It was a Saturday morning and Ben had come over to play with her. He and Mr. Bacca were her favorite people, aside from mom and dad. Except he wasn't playing with her, he was in the kitchen, and he was yelling, and mom and dad were yelling._   
  
_The screen door opened and slammed once, twice. She looked out the window to see him walking away, her mom running after him, both still yelling._   
  
_She ran out after them, barefoot and still in pajamas, fat tears already spilling down her cheeks._   
  
_"Come back!" She screeched, before a warm, gentle hand, her dad's, caught her by the arm before she could run into the street. Ben hadn't even noticed, had just kept walking..._   
  
She shook her head. It was silly and she knew it; she would see Techie again in two minutes. She had always been independent, sometimes too much so for her own good. But Techie's presence was warm and familiar and she always felt a little bit colder when he wasn't there.   
  
She got to her locker and opened it, left the things she didn't need and loaded her bag with what she did. A prom flier stuck out from between two textbooks and she scowled at it, like the colorful border and bold font were taunting her. 

 _This is stupid._ She snatched up the paper, crumpled it, shut her locker and tossed it into the nearest garbage. 

Unbeknownst to her, Techie was just turning the corner. He saw the look of disdain on her face directed at the prom flier just before she threw it out. He had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath, let the disappointment pass through him, before putting on a smile for her and walking over.

  
*

 

Ben pushed the verandah door open with his foot and walked out of the cabin, holding a tray laden with breakfast and blinking against the sun. It was already high, with summer just around the corner, and the clean blue sky promised another bright and hot day. A pair of sparrowhawks circled the air above the woods on the other side of the lake, shimmering and hazy with the distance. Right in front of him, Hux looked up from his basket chair, his smile small but bright and his eyes zeroing with sharp clarity on the breakfast tray. Ben’s breath caught a little, even after so many years his husband’s smile was easily the most beautiful sight at any given day. And especially today. 

They arrived to the lake cabin late last night, with nothing but a change of clothes and a couple of books Ben knew Hux had wanted to finish. It was luck that Han had always kept the cabin well stocked and regularly aired. Over the years, he’d built it as a temporary refuge whenever he needed to “take a break” - to save his marriage, as he always put it. It was certainly a marriage saving cabin, Ben mused as he put the tray of food into Hux’s lap and folded himself into the other chair next to him. 

It came as a surprise to exactly no one that Hux tended to work too much. May was always one of the worst months. Grant applications, classes at the Academy, financial department going haywire with the end of fiscal year - somehow everyone needed Hux’s input as if he was a General at war with half of the galaxy, and not just a Major in dire need of leave. Usually, Hux could handle the pressure excellently. But even he had his limits. And when he hit them… 

It was last night when Ben came home to find what he’d been secretly fearing for some time now. Instead of the warmly lit living room, the TV going quietly in the background and the sound of Hux typing away on his laptop, the flat was dark save for the pale humming fluorescent light from the kitchen. At the kitchen table, a somehow lessened figure of a man, staring unseeingly ahead. 

There was no bottle this time. Ben’s heart recovered a little from its drop earlier. Hux had gotten so much better at this. Before - before they got married, before they trusted the other not to get up one day and leave - Hux would try to ease the weight with whiskey. He’d drink to try and silence all those nagging expectations and disappointments, most of which had the voice of his father. He would get drunk, and Hux drinking to forget was a mean drunk, throwing words like jagged shards, knowing precisely where to aim to make it hurt. It’s taken Ben longer than he wanted to admit to realise that it wasn’t his Hux fishing for a fight, that it wasn’t some suppressed disapproval of Ben speaking out - or perhaps that it was a kind of hatret, but not towards Ben. Hux was never any good at expressing his fears, they always came out twisted and misdirected, and Ben was just the closest target at hand. 

They would fight, in those early days, and sleep in separate rooms, and in the morning Ben would find Hux in the kitchen despite the early hour and obvious hungover, struggling to make an apologetic breakfast and unable to meet his eyes. 

Eventually Ben found a way - stumbled upon it by chance, really, but maybe he wouldn’t have noticed it if he didn’t know Hux so well, who knows. Hux, who would be desperately independent and stubborn and vitriolic in an enclosed space, with his demons staring down on him from every reflective surface - the same Hux would talk, quietly and gratefully, when they were on the road. As if the changing landscape behind the car windows gave him a sense of escape. 

And when Ben had entered the kitchen yesterday and Hux looked up to him from the table, something trapped and struggling behind his eyes circled with dark shadows, Ben knew what to do. Ignoring the hungry growling of his stomach, he’d grabbed the car keys, collected a couple of necessities and took Hux’s hand. It was Wednesday, tomorrow was Hux’s day off, and if Ben didn’t do anything, he’d spend it in a self-destructive attempt to chase some impossible deadline. He needed to get out. 

They drove to the mall at the other side of the town. Got chicken wings and fries and drove around a little, Hux talking with his eyes fixed on the road while Ben licked the grease off his fingers. When they arrived to the cabin, Hux was already asleep. Ben carried him to bed. 

Now it was a very late, very pleasant morning, the lake tirelessly turning the same handful of sand over and over between the pebbles on their sliver of beach and the wind rustling the fresh green leaves on the hornbeams surrounding the cabin. Hux took a sip of his coffee and tipped his head back, closing his eyes against the sun with a small sigh. He looked so different from yesterday that Ben could sometimes hardly believe those two could be the same person. But then, he thought, a lot of those folks who knew him back in high school would hardly believe that the moody, violent boy with scraped knuckles and swollen lips who’d been in detention more times that they could count was the same boy who’d touch and lift his dancing partner as if they were porcelain dolls, who’d give gentle and thorough massages to his husband, and who had played with and protected and loved his little sister as if he’d found her at the end of the rainbow. 

Speaking of said sister… 

“Rey’s been especially twitchy lately,” he observed, glancing at his husband out of the corner of his eye. Hux’s one eyebrow lifted but otherwise his blissful expression didn’t change. 

“And how exactly am I involved in that,” he drawled. 

“Genetically,” Ben grinned. “She only ever gets like this when she’s thinking far too much about what Techie would or wouldn’t like instead of simply asking him.” 

“Your sister - afraid to ask something?” This time Hux actually opened his eyes. “Techie must be rubbing off on her. Shame, I had hoped for the opposite.” 

Ben laughed. “It’s that prom thing,” he said confidentially. 

“I know,” Hux replied simply. “Techie’s been gathering courage to ask her – and alternatively waiting for her to ask him – for days. At this rate, he might even beat her to it.” 

“This is my sister we’re talking about,” Ben turned his nose up. “Ten bucks say she’s gonna ask him first.” 

Hux spared him a fond smile. “You should never underestimate my brother.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring some cameos from some faves. :) Enjoy!

Thursday evening and Rey was this close to snapping with frustration. It wasn’t like her, obsessing so much over something so trivial. She was the problem solver, dammit. She should have just marched up to Techie and asked him herself. 

Except that… didn’t seem right. She would appear eager, and Techie would say yes just to not let her down, and he’d be uncomfortable the whole time and– 

Blast it, this whole relationship thing was so difficult. Rey mentally whispered an apology to her brother for every instance she called him an idiot for taking six years to marry the love of his life. At this rate, Ben might well end up being the more decisive of the Solo siblings! 

Rey briefly considered asking Ben. Techie was so much like his brother, and if Ben knew the ropes of communication with one Hux… but that wouldn’t do. For one, Ben would surely tattle to Armitage, and Techie could find out about it. For two, her brother was currently busy kidnapping his husband at the lake cabin. They wouldn’t be getting back until very late at night. Han and Leia left earlier that day to pester Uncle Luke about something, leaving Rey in the grumbling care of Mr. Bacca. She was running out of time. 

Now, Mr.Bacca…. Rey’s thoughts halted. There was something. She knew about his romantic relationship with Ben’s landlady - however Rey very resolutely tried not to imagine any romance between nearly seven foot Mr. Bacca and shriveled five foot something Mrs. Kanata. She must have been at least sixty… not to mention that nobody knew for sure how old Mr. Bacca was, it was impossible to tell if his face was wrinkled or not under all that hair. Plus Mrs. Kanata talked almost incessantly while Mr. Bacca was content with muttering something incomprehensible into his beard every now and then. His accent was so strong - how did she even know he was asking her out when he - presumably - did ask her out? 

“Mr. Bacca? How did - um, sorry, could you give me an advice?” 

The big man looked up from watching some Bundesliga soccer team on TV and harrumphed what was probably an assent. 

“When you met Mrs. Kanata - um - I mean - how did you ask her to a date when you didn’t know what she liked?” 

Mr. Bacca’s beard moved as he pursed his lips and there was a brief chuckle. Then he winked and patted the spot on the couch next to him. Obediently, Rey went and sat next to him while he pulled up something on his old battered phone. The scratched thing must have been at least ten years old - Rey wondered how it even had a camera. The photos were grainy and over-exposed but she could still make out what he was showing her. 

The pictures showed Mrs. Kanata - with a little less gray in her hair and slightly thinner glasses than she wore nowadays - smiling at something in her hands. A couple of close-ups followed. 

“It’s a paper castle!” 

Mr. Bacca nodded. In one of the pictures, Mrs. Kanata was laughing at the miniature bar filled with stick-figures inside one of the castle rooms. 

“So you made her a castle - with various rooms for various choices - and let her take a pick?” In the pictures, Mrs. Kanata clearly loved it. It was so elaborately crafted - she must have appreciated the intention behind Mr. Bacca gesture. The kind of affection that doesn’t tell but shows. 

Techie loved crafts, too. Finally Rey knew what to do. She looked at the clock and swore - just to duck her head under the ruffle from Mr. Bacca who grumbled in disapproval. 

“Sorry, Mr. Bacca. Language, I know. Thank you so much, you’re a treasure. I’ll be in my room.”

 

*

 

Friday morning, Techie was a bundle of nerves. The stress of upcoming finals and projects seemed to pale in comparison to the war going on inside him. And now he only had until the end of the day to decide.  
  
It was just a stupid dance, he tried to reason. Where was the harm in asking? One little question, that was all.   
  
But while his sharp mind had earned him the top grades in his class and countless honors and awards, it failed him when it came to personal matters. It was too easy to imagine every worst case scenario, a useful skill for science labs, less so for being in a relationship.   
  
So yes, it should have been one little question, one answer, and done. Except he couldn't stop considering everything that could go wrong, and inevitably every hypothetical scenario led to Rey thinking less of him, and it was simply unacceptable.   
  
The alternative, which should have been the easier choice, would be to let it go and not ask at all. He could still picture the way she'd crumpled up the prom flier with distaste and thrown it away. She didn't want to go, clearly. But would she still expect him to ask? Was it a thing boyfriend just did on principle? Would she be upset that he didn't at least try? He turned the conundrum over again and again in his mind, looking at it from every angle but with no solution in sight.   
  
What he needed was a second opinion. The problem was, the person he usually went to for that was Rey. Or Armie, but if he told Armie, Armie might tell Ben, and then Ben might tell Rey. The same went for Han or Leia.   
  
And he had no one else, Techie thought glumly as he stepped into the cafeteria. Rey wasn't there yet, and he looked around for an empty spot to sit and wait for her.   
  
His gaze passed over the table where their classmates Poe, Finn and Rose sat. He quickly turned his head to another table, but it was too late, Poe had seen him searching and was getting up to come over to him, probably to offer him a seat.   
  
Techie sighed. Sometimes Poe was too nice for his own good. He and Finn and Rose were mostly Rey's friends, going back to their elementary school days, except for Rose who had transferred to their school in seventh grade. They were all kind to Techie, unlike many of their other classmates, but while Rey matched him in academics, she was much more personable, less shy, and to many she didn't come across as smart as she truly was. It made people underestimate her, to her constant frustration, but it was also easier for her to make friends. Techie was just a little too smart, a little too awkward around people he didn't know. But Rey's friends were nice to him anyway and he was secretly grateful for it.   
  
As Poe approached, a big smile on his face, Techie had an idea. It was a long shot, an act of desperation, but he was nothing if not desperate.   
  
"Hey, Poe," he said, trying to smile politely back when Poe greeted him.   
  
"Hey buddy, come sit with us!"   
  
"I- well-"   
  
"You know you can sit with us even when Solo isn't here, right? We don't bite.”   
  
"Actually, could I ask you a question, like, in private?" Techie flinched. "That sounded weird, sorry, I just mean, it's nothing bad, I just need some advice?"   
  
Poe blinked in surprise but didn't hesitate to turn and mouth "be right back" to the others before leading Techie out into the hall.   
  
Once they were well out of earshot of other students, he waited for Techie to speak. Eventually, he tried to ease the tension with a joke: "So, who talks first?"   
  
"Sorry! Well it’s about...how, um. How did you ask, um, Finn–?"   
  
"Ask him out? Well I almost didn't, until that day you and Rey walked in holding hands. Then I thought I might actually have a shot."   
  
That wasn't what Techie meant, but he was suddenly intrigued. "What do you mean?"   
  
"Well, I thought they liked each other. You know, as more than friends."   
  
Thinking back, Techie could understand that. Rey and Finn were each other's first real friend. They used to chase each other on the playground and, before they got old enough to be teased for it, Finn would often hold Rey's hand. Techie never realized that was what held Poe back from asking Finn out sooner. 

It was reassuring to know that even someone as charismatic as Poe didn't always get it right. Maybe he had more in common with Techie than it appeared. The thought gave him the courage to continue.  
  
"Well, that's- I mean, I'm glad. That, that you were able to do that. But actually I meant, how did you ask Finn to the dance?"   
  
Poe thought about it a moment and then shrugged.   
  
"Same way I asked him out, I guess. I saw an opening, and I went for it. I might get turned down, yeah, but if I didn't, I'd always wonder what if. You know?"   
  
"...yeah."   
  
Techie felt something settle into place. Poe was right. He only got one shot at this, and if he didn't take it, maybe he really would regret it. And Rey was many things but cruel wasn't one of them. If she said no, she'd let him down easy. It really would be okay. Probably.   
  
"Thanks Poe," he said, smiling for real now. "You're, um. A good friend." It seemed like the right thing to say. It was. Poe lit up and clapped him on the shoulder.   
  
"I hope you guys can go! We could all sit together, it'll be fun. We-"   
  
He stopped, suddenly, his gaze caught on something behind Techie. He grinned suddenly and gave his arm another pat.   
  
"Good luck, buddy," he whispered, and then he was gone.   
  
Techie turned slowly. Even before he saw her, he knew it was Rey. 

She was walking towards him with an expression on her face that he couldn't quite decipher. That was unusual; they'd known each other nearly half their lives and could read each other like books. 

“Hey,” he said, proud of himself for keeping a calm demeanor in spite of how fast his heart was beating. In lieu of an answer, Rey took his elbow and guided him into the cafeteria, to a table in the corner. Techie let himself be led, guessing she wanted to try to at least get some cramming in before the bell rang for class. He just hoped he'd have a chance to ask, once they were in class it would be so much harder to find a free moment, and the order forms were due at the end of the day. 

They sat down and Rey pulled her messenger back into her lap, rummaging through it with a determined expression. That one, Techie knew. It was his favorite, after her smile. Her hands stopped moving as she seemed to find what she was looking for. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. 

Right at that moment, the first warning bell rang, and students began finishing off breakfasts and scribbling down answers on last minute homework. Techie's heart rate picked up even more; he had to do this. It was now or never. 

Rey had a similarly panicked look on her face. He briefly wondered if she'd forgotten to complete an assignment for their first class, but that was so unlike her. 

“Rey,” he began, “I have something to ask you.” 

“I- huh? Oh, sure, but. But first, I-” 

Techie cleared his throat, too focused on getting the words out to notice that she was talking too while pulling something out of her bag. 

“Will you…” 

As he hesitated, Poe’s words came back to him. _If I didn't, I'd always wonder what if._  

He took a steadying breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and blurted out, “Rey, will you go to prom with me?” 

He waited for a beat, afraid to open his eyes and see her expression. Would it be surprise, amusement, pity? But when another moment passed with not so much as a sound from her, he slowly chanced a peek. 

Rey had turned towards him in her chair, arms extended, something sitting in her open palms. Her gaze was somewhere roughly around his t-shirt collar; her cheeks were bright pink and her eyes squeezed shut, too. 

Techie blinked. Had she even heard him? He looked at the thing in her outstretched hands. It took a moment to process, and then he gasped. 

Rey was holding a figure of a rocket ship made in impressive detail from spare metal parts. On it was a little sign, and etched on the sign were the words _fly me to the moon._  

 _She_ was asking _him_ to prom. 

Techie looked up. Rey was staring now at him, completely bewildered. They must have looked like a pair of deer in the headlights to anyone who might have happened to watch. 

And then they both burst out laughing. 

Rey doubled over, nearly dropping the rocket. Techie caught it and pulled it to his chest. They laughed until they were nearly in tears. 

Techie was the first to catch his breath. He took a moment to turn the rocket over in his hands and inspect it. 

“Did you make this?” he asked in a small, awed voice. 

Rey giggled again and nodded. 

“It’s incredible! It must have taken you days.” 

“I did it last night.” 

The answer was so very, endearingly _Rey_ , and it set Techie off laughing all over again. 

“So, is...is that a yes?” Rey asked, biting her lip to fight back her smile. 

“Are you crazy? Yes!” 

Techie was glad he had a firm grip on the rocket, because the moment he said that, Rey flung herself at him and hugged him tight, rocking his chair back a little with the force of it. He was quick to return the embrace, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. 

Suddenly applause broke out from a few tables over. Techie looked over Rey's shoulder to see Finn and Rose clapping and cheering and Poe giving him a thumbs up. Other students turned to see what was going on but Techie couldn't care less. And Rey didn't even seem to notice, intent as she was on squeezing the life out of Techie. 

The last warning bell rang, forcing them to pull away. Techie didn't know how he was going to focus in class when the most incredible thing had just happened.

“I'll, um. I'll fill out the form, okay? Don't even worry about it,” he promised enthusiastically as they walked down the hall together. 

“You sure? Okay. I'll...I'll, I don't know…” 

“You think about what color we should wear. Your dress, or. Or whatever. You could wear pajamas for all I care.” 

Rey laughed again. Techie never tired of hearing her laugh. 

“Tempting. Ben might kill me, though.” 

“And Armie will be livid if he doesn't get to take me suit shopping.” 

Techie’s mood was so high up in the stratosphere that he didn’t notice the anxious shadow passing over Rey’s face at the mention of shopping.

 

*

 

“Okay, own up. Who asked first?” 

Techie stared at his brother - much better looking after a day of kidnap-vacation, he noticed gratefully - and for the life of him couldn’t guess why such a simple question should warrant such an eager, expectant face. From behind the kitchen doorway, Ben peeked out, dish towel in hand: “Hey! No cheating!” 

Techie blinked in confusion, opening his mouth to reply truthfully - neither - when Rey grabbed his elbow. 

“They’ve been betting on us.” 

“Oh god,” Techie groaned. “Is this a karma or what?” 

“You’re no fun, Rey,” Ben mock-scowled at her. “There’s ten bucks at stake. We could go fifty-fifty,” he added hopefully. 

“You just said no cheating,” Hux rolled his eyes. Rey grinned to herself. This was too much fun. 

“I decline,” she told Ben. “Me and Techie are going to the dance together. That’s it.” 

“Brother mine,” Hux began with a theatrical sigh and got no further. 

“I’m sorry, Armie,” Techie grinned and entwined his fingers with Rey’s. “What were you going to do with the money in case you won, anyway?” 

Hux folded his arms in defeat and shrugged. “Ben’s favourite cupcakes from the pastry shop his mother likes are on sale this week. You know how many calories a day he burns through...” 

Hux’s confession was interrupted by a soft _plop_ of a paper bag on the coffee table in front of him. Above him, Ben was biting his cheek as if to keep himself from laughing. 

“It’s your favourite cupcakes too, and you need feeding up just as much as I do,” he admonished at last. “And you’re damn lucky I trusted my sister to score me a win so much that I went ahead and bought them in advance.” 

“I’m still not telling who was first to ask,” Rey insisted between giggles. Armie’s face as he peeked inside the bag was just too precious.


	3. Chapter 3

“You sure it’s this one?” Ben parked the car on one of the last free slots in the small parking lot across the road and turned around to give Hux in the back seat a questioning look. Hux nodded. Next to Ben, Rey chanced a peek at the imposing glass-paneled front of the shop taking up at least three stories of the building and sighed. 

“I’m not going to see the Pope, you know,” she muttered. Maybe going dress shopping with Ben and Armie wasn’t as bright an idea as it seemed at first. 

Ben agreed to take her when Leia got once again unexpectedly called off to see Luke. That was for a second time in fourteen days and Rey was starting to get nervous. Ben wouldn’t tell a word and Rey suspected that he, too, didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on. In all fairness though, the first thing on Rey’s mind right now was hardly her eccentric uncle. 

She was never into dresses. Oversized sweaters, jeans and maybe some tunics, shorts for summer. The red dress she wore for Ben’s wedding was still stacked somewhere in her wardrobe, never taken out since. 

“You look great in red,” Ben attempted to soothe her when she first came to him, her distress over finding something passable _and_ affordable apparently more visible than she was trying to let on. Rey treated that sorry attempt with the scoff it deserved.  

“I do,” she explained when Ben didn’t seem to get it, “but we have to match, and Techie’s hair combined with a red shirt–” 

Hux had burst out laughing then, saving her the trouble of going into detail. Ben smacked his forehead with his palm in mock defeat and then bit his lip, his eyes flicking between Hux and Rey. 

“You know,” he said after a moment, “I think you’d look great in blue, too.” He turned to his husband. “You have one shirt like that. It always brings out your hair so well, you look like some kind of emperor, crowned with gold...” 

It could be a trick of light but there seemed to be a hint of pink to Hux’s cheeks and his voice had gone a little softer when he said: “Oh, well, seems like I should wear that one more often.” 

Rey forcibly cleared her throat when it started looking like her brother and brother-in-law were getting side-tracked, _again_. Ben’s head shot up.  

“Right. Blue dress it is.” 

“I could just order something online–” Rey hesitated. 

“Or you could buy a potato sack to the same effect,” Ben shook his head. “These things never look like in the photographs. _Never._ ” 

“What would you know about ball gowns anyway,” Rey prickled with defensiveness. “It’s not like you regularly go around shopping for dresses or lingerie, do you?” 

A truck honked outside and Hux quickly turned to the window to inspect what was happening. Rey briefly wondered what was suddenly so interesting out there, cars honked on this street all the time. But then Ben was already in the hallway, grabbing his jacket and the car keys at the same time. 

“I know just the place,” Hux said, steering her out of the door, and that was that. 

Except that the place Hux knew seemed to be the kind of place where you didn’t go when all you’ve got was your Mom’s card that’s been in overdraft for the past two months and a pocket of savings from the afternoon job at the garage Han had got you. Well, Rey thought glumly as she reluctantly climbed out of the car, not that she wanted to rain on Hux’s parade but there was no helping it. She valued his opinion - not that she would tell him to his face, of course – but she would sooner ditch the whole prom idea before she accepted charity from her brother-in-law. She supposed she could always at least take a look - to see what a nice dress looked like and what to look for in the more affordable price ranges.

 

*

 

“You didn’t have to come with us,” Rey tried to convince Hux when he dismissed a third dress as soon as it was brought forth, shaking his head imperiously before Rey could even touch the fabric. Ben was browsing the aisles somewhere, talking on the phone with someone from the KOR. Leaving Rey, like the traitor he was, alone with Hux and that manic gleam in his eye. 

“And unleash Ben on the salespeople? That would be against Geneva convention,” Hux laughed. Rey chose not to comment on the fact that so far, three of the shop clerks seemed to be terrified of Hux, not Ben. 

“Hey,” Ben interrupted then, _finally_ , holding up something - Rey registered a flash of royal blue. “You say the dance is space-themed, isn’t it?” 

“It is,” she breathed out. The color was perfect. The blue satin of the skirt flew smoothly like a river and the sleeves and neckline were covered with a sheer material and star-patterned lace that felt light like a cloud of blue smoke. Without even having to try it on - and they would fit it to her measurements anyway - Rey knew it was _the_ one.  

She also didn’t even have to look at the price tag to know that it was too much. Sighing, she passed her hand once more through the voluminous folds of the skirt, enjoying the expensive rustle of satin silk. It would be hard to even look at something else after she saw this one but she had no choice. 

“Put it back,” she told Ben. “It’s too much for me.” 

“But–” Hux started to protest and then clamped his mouth shut when Ben shook his head. Rey was grateful for it - her brother knew her, and her pride. She wouldn’t put it aside for just a pretty dress. 

Suddenly Hux drew in a sharp breath. Rey looked up to see him staring stiffly - not at her but down the aisle where a sharp clicking of heels approached them at a slow pace. Rey frowned. She hadn’t seen such a dark scowl on Hux’s face in a very long time - actually the only time was when the four of them accidentally ran into Brendol on the street one day and the man just passed them without even sparing a glance in their direction. 

Then Ben moved instinctively to put himself between Hux and whoever was coming and Rey whipped around, expecting a scene - but all she saw was a woman, a very elegant one, swanning down the shop with just fleeting glances at the display like someone who’s been around such places so often nothing could impress them anymore. Rey had seen those marble faces - it was usually in the front rows at theatres where Ben and the KOR performed their more classic shows. It was the disinterested blankness of people who even if once had any passion they had long forgotten it. 

But her eyes had a familiar shape – and then Rey noticed her narrow shoulders and the bird-like bones of her hands – and she knew who it was even before Hux said, voice even and cold like a sheet of ice: “Hello, stepmother.” 

“Armitage,” she nodded. They all halted to a sort of stand-still. Ben was holding the dress and looked unsure whether it was safe to leave even for a moment. Rey didn’t care to hide her scowl. This was the woman who couldn’t even feed Techie properly, let alone love him. 

Techie’s mother, if she deserved the word, was taking them in, one after one. Her gaze dropped a little when she was met with the open hostility in Ben’s eyes - did she just give ground? - and when she finally looked at her, it wasn’t with the dislike or disdain Rey expected. The woman’s fingers clenched and unclenched at the strap of her purse. She was nervous. 

She finally let her eyes linger on the dress and it occurred to Rey that she must have heard her telling Ben to put it back. She felt a prickle of that familiar burn that used to consume her when she and Techie were just kids and she thought he was flaunting his wealth to humiliate her, the shame and unfairness of being judged based solely on your money’s worth. But the woman’s eyes weren’t mocking - if anything, the little spark within was searching and tentative and it reminded Rey rather shockingly of Techie. She always surmised that Techie’s mother was a very shallow, stupid woman, but now she seemed to be coming to a conclusion fast, and Rey couldn’t make guess what it would be. 

“I see you’ve got a fine taste, as usual,” Techie’s mother addressed Hux, at last. 

“Ben picked that one. My husband, Maratelle Hux, I don't think you've met yet,” Hux waved his hand between them, the cursory politeness weighted with reproach. She didn’t attend the wedding. 

“Charmed,” the corners of her mouth twitched in what could have been an attempt at a smile. 

“The pleasure’s mine,” Ben muttered in a tone clearly conveying that the reality was anything but. 

“Any reason for this unexpected family meeting?” 

“I heard–” she began, then stopped. Reconsidered. “I had hoped...” Again. A pinch of color rose to her cheeks as if she wasn’t used to stutter and blunder like that. “Clar… Techie’s going to prom, and I thought I’d help a little. Wouldn’t another woman’s eye be more useful with things like picking a dress?” 

Hux’s narrowed his eyes. “You heard,” he repeated her first aborted statement. 

She shrugged. “It seems to matter to him… a lot.” 

“Since when,” Hux cut her off, “does Brendol care for frivolous children festivities?” 

“Since when can’t I care for what I want?” 

Hux snorted. “Since the day you married him, Maratelle.” 

She stared at him, a corner of her mouth twitching - and then again, her gaze was the first to drop. “Yes,” she said softly. “I guess nineteen years is a very long time to find one’s courage.” 

“Too long,” Hux snapped, grabbing Ben’s hand and motioning for Rey to get going. “We’re not–” 

Rey didn’t know why she did what she did next but it was out of her faster than she could think. Maybe because the hurt in Maratelle’s eyes seemed so real and for a brief moment, she looked like Techie so, so much. 

“Not too long,” she stated, her voice clear. It made Hux stop, disbelieving. Shocked her brother-in-law speechless, the day just kept getting weirder and weirder, Rey thought and barrelled on before she could think twice about it. 

“It’s a _hell_ of a long time but better late than never.” She turned to Hux and leveled him with her best glare. “And if you don’t allow her to start now, you’re no better than him.” 

“Rey,” Ben sucked in a warning breath. Maratelle just stood there, eyes wide. It occurred to Rey that this might have been the first time anyone stood up for her. Hux’s mouth was pressed into a thin pale line as he stared at her, eyes unreadable, before he huffed out a breath and his shoulders seemed to slump, just a fraction. 

“God above,” he remarked, “Techie’s lucky to have you.” 

Of all the things he could have said this one actually surprised Rey and she felt her face warming. It didn’t happen every day for Armitage to admit he was wrong. 

“Do you want to make this good for Techie?” she turned to Maratelle before she could lose her bravado. 

“As much as I can,” and her smile was now openly grateful. The way it transformed her whole face - Rey realised Techie might have inherited a lot from his mother after all. 

“Okay,” Rey took a deep breath. “I’ll need to try this on.” And she grabbed the dress from Ben’s shock-numbed hands, nodded for Maratelle to follow and strode off towards the changing rooms. 

 

*

 

“I can’t believe you’ve let her pay for that,” Ben remarked when he dropped her off to the Solo house later that day. Hux decided to take Maratelle out for coffee and a years overdue discussion. 

“Only for what went over my budget,” Rey sniffed. “I’m broke, big brother.” 

Then she clutched the paper bag closer to her chest. “Did you know she was only a little older than I am now when she married Brendol Hux?” she remarked, thoughtful. “I’m not saying she isn’t a shit excuse for a mother but - I think her fault with Techie wasn’t what she was doing but rather what she _wasn’t._ And - I think that for a start, she needed to - to participate in something - more than I needed to pay for everything myself. If you get me.”  

“You’d have a good head for politics,” Ben grinned. “Mom’s gonna be ecstatic when she hears that particular gene of hers carried on into the next generation after all.” 

Rey snorted and stole another peek into the bag. The blue looked even better in low lighting. 

“Besides, I found out in the changing rooms that it has pockets. And there’s no pride big enough to stand between a girl and a dress with pockets,” she stated, grinning at Ben’s burst of laughter.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Rey eyed the pair of brilliant blue shoes and sighed. They were perfect - matching the dress in colour, with heels just long enough to make for elegant foot shape while not impeding the dancing in any way. Her feet wouldn’t hurt even if she danced away all night. 

That is, if she knew how to dance in the first place. 

It was ridiculous. Her own brother was a professional dancer. Even moderately famous within the dancing circles. Even Leia and Han had been to their fair share of dances even though it usually involved Han bouncing around like a brooding duck with Leia stepping around him, trying to make most of his non-existent sense of beat. Rey usually spent those nights trying to look like she didn’t belong with them. 

But around the time Ben had dropped out of school to enlist in a dance academy and the following blowback it caused, the word dance was a bit of a sore subject in Solo household for a while. So Rey kept to her judo and later bojutsu, making most of her short height with the added advantage of a long staff. Fighting was almost like dancing, right? 

But ballroom was no dojo. And she couldn’t very well just make a fool of herself - social dance was probably Techie’s second nature, with all the dreadful parties he was forced to attend since he was a child. She needed to learn at least something. 

Ben would be so excited at the opportunity. Rey could just picture his wide grin, his enthusiastic exclamation - _You need a teacher!_ \- and the fervor with which he would throw himself into teaching his little sister to dance.  

Which was exactly why she didn’t want to ask him. She loved Ben dearly but he had enough ammunition on her as it was. No need to add to it. 

She would find another way. After all, Rey wasn’t a Solo for nothing. She thumbed her phone and dialled a number. 

“ _Yeah?_ ” The voice on the other end sounded sleepy. It was one of the reasons Rey chose this time to call - Manu would still be in bed after the night shift in Renegados. 

“Hi, Manu. Sorry for waking you.” 

Manu mumbled something that sounded like no problem interposed with a huge yawn. “ _What’s up, hermanita?_ ” 

“I… listen. I need you to teach me to dance. Ballroom, specifically.” 

“Jeez. Er, I mean, congrats. Don’t you have your brother for that?” 

Rey rolled her eyes and then she remembered Manu couldn’t see her. “I have my reasons. Look, if you don’t think you can–” 

“ _Well, yeah, things are kinda busy right now you see–_ ” 

But Rey wasn’t finished. “Then I’ll have to tell Ben that the last time he asked you to drive me home, you called me a taxi instead and sneaked off to make out with Riz.” 

The yelp on the other end of the line sounded very much awake now. “ _You wouldn’t_.”  

“Try me.”

 

 *

 

Techie clicked pause on the YouTube video, the sixth one in the past hour, with an irritated huff. This wasn’t _working_.  

Once the initial excitement of _Rey wants to go to prom with me_ had cleared, Techie quickly realized there was going to be more to it than just showing up. He’d need a suit and nice shoes, they’d need flowers, and…  

And he would need to learn how to dance. 

The clothes Armie would help him with, of course. The flowers would mean a return visit to _Bazine’s Boudoir_ , a necessary evil. It was only the dancing he was truly worried about. So he’d done what he often did in times of need: he turned to the internet.  

Except, it turned out, instructional videos were a poor substitute for a real teacher. Not to mention he didn’t have a partner to practice with. As he stubbornly scrolled to find another, the obvious solution nagged at the back of his mind: his brother-in-law was a _professional dancer_.  Techie knew if he asked, Ben would help him in a heartbeat. In fact, he’d be thrilled. 

“He loves teaching almost as much as he loves performing,” Armie had told him years ago at one of the KOR shows, a fond look on his face as he watched his then-boyfriend on stage, “I tease him that he just likes being the most knowledgeable one in the room, like some kind of dojo master, but really he loves seeing their face when they get it right. It reminds him of when he first learned.” 

Yes, Ben would be more than willing. But then it might get back to Rey, who surely, between her brother and the KOR, was at least a competent dancer already. And she would know that he, for all his family’s social status, couldn’t dance to save his life. 

So rather than go to Ben immediately, Techie had holed up in his room and tried to teach himself. And it was going terribly. 

It didn’t help that he was still a little emotionally raw from the day before, when he and his mother had - for the first time in his life - gone for lunch together. 

When she approached him as he entered one evening after spending the day at the Solos’ studying, he thought nothing of it. He put his shoes in their place, locked and bolted the front door, greeted her politely as he’d been raised to do. 

But before he could hurry up the stairs to his room, she stepped in his path. Even in the privacy of their home, she was put together and dressed impeccably, as if company might show up at any moment. She’d always been that way. It hadn’t been until he met Rey’s mother that he noticed, she looked more like someone in a magazine than a mother. 

Tonight, one thing was different. She looked nervous. She was unable to quite meet Techie’s gaze, but her eyes kept wandering to his face anyway, like she was seeing it for the first time. 

“Cl- Techie. What are you doing this Saturday around noon?” 

He was so startled by hearing her call him that name he nearly missed the second part of the sentence. She never called him his chosen name - his father wouldn’t allow it. Then the rest of her question registered with him and he had to bite back a groan. What now? Some luncheon he’d be forced to attend? Did Armie know, would he be there too? Why was he just finding out about it now? 

He had plans for Saturday - with Rey, of course - but it seemed they were about to be shot. He was already mentally writing out the apologetic text he would have to send her. 

“Nothing,” he said, his tone even. He knew better than to let on that he was displeased. 

Some strange expression flickered across her face. She seemed almost...hopeful. 

“I’d like to take you to lunch.” She proposed it like a business meeting, but there was also something soft and tentative in the offer. “Wherever you want. Just...you and I.” 

Techie froze, his heartbeat thudding in his ears, possibilities sprouting in his mind like weeds. Lunch - why? Would they meet with others, was it career related? Or was it...he was nearly the age his mother was when she was married off by her family, was she taking him to meet potential matches? Did she even know about Rey? Or maybe, did she have bad news to break to him? Was she dying and trying to reconnect before it was too late... 

He forced himself to take a shaky breath before he spiraled. With it, came sudden clarity: _his mother wanted to go to lunch with him_. _Just him._  

Techie could have cried, if he wasn’t so shocked. Maybe he would, later, when he was sure this was real. 

He’d never been unaware of his parents’ indifference towards him. Even when he was too small to understand it, he knew Armie and his nanny and the maid were around more than they were, paid him more attention. 

When he hit his teens, the neglect stung, like antiseptic on an open cut. But he’d had Armie, and Rey and Ben, and the Solos. Over time, his notion of _family_ simply adapted to the kind he had, not the kind one was “supposed” to have. But deep down a part of him, the part that was still a child wailing for his mother only to be picked up by a stranger, had always secretly hoped that one day, _maybe_ , one or both of his parents would come around. Would want to know him, would actually care. 

And now it might be happening, and all he could do was stand there and remind himself to breathe. 

“Yes,” he finally said, nearly choking on the word. “Okay.” 

It had been over twenty-four hours since their lunch together and he still kept replaying it over and over in his mind, analyzing every moment. Maybe it was that, not the videos, which was the problem with his plan for self-instruction. Maybe it was both. Maybe it was just him. 

He looked at his phone where it sat on the desk beside his laptop. All it would take was one text. It would be so easy. And to make prom perfect for Rey...it would be _worth it_.  

 _Techie [4:29pm]: I need your help with something._  

 _Ben [5:04pm]: Sure, anything. What’s up?_  

 _Techie [5:05pm]: Prom is in less than two weeks and I don’t know how to dance…_  

_ Ben [5:10pm]: Sounds like you need a teacher :) _

 

 *

 

Rey tried not to feel too guilty as she arrived for her first dance lesson with Manuel. Her attempt at blackmail was ridiculous at best - or it was the fact that Manu and Riz thought they weren’t obvious? Rey didn’t know what was their bloody problem but both of her brother’s colleagues acted as if the KOR would dissolve if it came out the two of them started dating. 

Maybe they were genuinely afraid that it would upend the easy camaraderie of the whole group. They had started the KOR when they were all around eighteen. Went from dance buddies to colleagues to friends. Rey would often say that with the KOR, she had somehow six more brothers in addition to Ben. But in all eleven years, Manu and Riz had been just friends. They dated outside the group - Riz had brought a boy to practice once or twice and Manu had a long-term girlfriend that he broke up with nearly two years ago, and didn’t seem to settle for anyone afterwards. 

Maybe it was just a fling and nothing would come out of it, and maybe it really took them eleven years to realise their attraction to each other, Rey mused. Men were daft. It wasn’t like she didn’t know Techie for, what, ten years before…? Oh, bother. Rey better dropped that thought and pulled off her sneakers to step into the studio. 

One of the advantages that Manu had over Ben as a teacher was that Manu, though still a big guy, wasn’t nearly as tall and built as Ben. Rey sometimes bemoaned that she had to inherit their mother’s tiny figure instead of their father’s proudly towering one. 

“Right hand up? Or left?” she asked, trying out the proper hold. 

“Left only if you want to lead,” Manu corrected her. 

“Wouldn’t that be the man’s role?” Rey grumbled. 

“I don’t mind either, you know I swing both ways,” Manu winked at her and burst out in giggles when she tried to kick him into the shins. 

 

*

 

Rey had set aside three days for this. She’d probably need much more that that to become as natural as Ben on the dancefloor but then, Rey wasn’t aiming to compete or perform any elaborate choreographies. All she wanted was to know how to not step on her partner’s foot. Maybe how to spin without tripping over her own feet and how to dip without making herself a fool. And she couldn’t very well pulling out of movie nights or meet-ups with her friends on the pretense that ‘something’s come up’ without eventually having to explain what that something was, so three days it was. 

“We’re even, right? You won’t tell Ben about me and Riz, I won’t tell him what a sack of potatoes you were,” Manu teased her at the end of the last lesson. Rey looked up from tying her shoelaces and tilted her head to the side as if she wanted to think on it. 

“Oh fine, I won’t tell him,” she agreed, “but for God’s sake you should stop sneaking off under everyone’s nose, I overheard Ben telling Hux the other day other day that the you-es-tee - whatever it is - between you and Riz is making practices uncomfortable.” 

And then, as an afterthought, her brow creasing with curiosity, she added: “What’s an UST anyway?” 

“Never mind,” Manu groaned, letting his head fall against the wall. Repeatedly. “Wait - he knew about us the whole time? You had no leverage at all?” 

Rey bolted out of the studio, barely remembering to grab her dance shoes and grinning the entire walk home.

 

*

 

Ben wriggled and stretched to get more comfortable on the couch. When he settled, Hux’s hand returned to rest lightly on his nape, playing with the loose strands of hair there, fingers working through the occasional tangles. Ben pushed his head into the touch and grinned when Hux pinched lightly his earlobe in admonishment. 

“Settle down,” Hux murmured, not lifting his eyes from the book in his free hand. “Why should I ever want to get a pet cat when I have you.” 

Ben’s been talking about getting a cat lately but so far, Hux had avoided a decision. They both led busy lives with sometimes unpredictable schedules and a live pet seemed like a too great a responsibility. In the meantime, Ben enjoyed the perks of having the quiet evenings on the couch with his head in Hux’s lap all for himself. 

Hux’s fingers again abandoned their all-important mission to turn Ben into a puddle of sleepy contentment. Cracking one eye open, Ben watched Hux taking a sip of wine and putting the glass back to balance precariously on the armrest. A drop of deep red clung to his lower lip and left behind a smear of color even after Hux licked it off. Ben never understood the appeal of wine - there was a sour tang to the taste no matter how sweet the label insisted the wine was - but he found he didn’t mind the taste when he could kiss it off Hux’s lips, softer and just that little bit sloppier with the wine. 

Hux’s eyes refocused from the page on Ben’s little pout and with a smile, he put away the book and buried both his hands in Ben’s hair, alternating light tugs and gentle scratches. Ben melted under the ministrations and Hux’s hand traveled down the line of his shoulder, working the knots there with his thumb. 

“How did it go today, with Techie?” Hux asked when Ben seemed relaxed enough. 

“Hmmm. Good. He’s determined to get it right and he will. The hardest thing is to get him loosen up so he could feel the music, not just count the beats.” 

Hux chuckled. “That’s been the trouble with me as well.” 

“Can’t be excellent in everything, you two,” Ben teased and then settled back into the petting. “I’m glad he came to me. Can’t imagine a stranger to get him to open up...” he trailed off, thoughtful. 

“There’s a lot on his mind these days,” Hux prompted him. Ben squinted at him, a little suspicious. 

“Did you set up Maratelle to have that lunch with him?” 

Hux shrugged. “I might have suggested to her that small steps would work better with Techie than just showing up all of a sudden and demanding her share in his life.” 

Ben cast his mind back to the afternoon. Techie was mostly confused - not only with his mother’s tentative attempt at approaching him but also with his own reaction. After so many years he’d thought there’d be only resentment, but… 

“He wants it to work,” Ben mused. “He hopes it will.” 

Hux’s fingers were tracing his brow now, smoothing out the lines there. Ben kept thinking on what Techie had said, among other things: “.... _she was never there, Ben. Or more like, she was, but it made no difference._ ” 

He had been surprised when Techie began hesitantly sharing this with him during their first lesson. Mainly, he wondered why Techie was telling _him_ , not Hux, and then realized: Techie was confiding in him the way he would to an older brother. Only differently, in that Ben was a fresh set of ears, so to speak. Someone who hadn’t heard it all before. Lived it all before. 

He’d felt a rush of sympathy and protectiveness. They didn’t make a lot of progress dancing-wise but Ben felt as if something else had progressed instead, leaps and bounds. It would do no good to keep trying to dance when Techie’s mind was clearly elsewhere. 

“And did he say whether…” Hux looked down, his own brow pinched. “Whether she treated him well?” 

Ben remembered Hux’s defensiveness in the dress shop. He knew Hux had decided to give her a fair chance but, ever the older brother, he still worried for Techie. It was difficult for him to step back and let things run their course without his intervention. 

He nudged his nose against Hux’s still hand, prompting him to continue stroking, now more for Hux’s sake than his own. 

“From what he told me, it sounds like she was just as scared as him. Maybe more. It was awkward for a while, and then,” Ben smiled a little. “You’ll like this, I think. Then, he told me…” 

 _“...we were sitting there waiting for our food. I-I didn’t know what to say to her, and she kept looking like she was about to start talking, and I didn’t want to interrupt if she did, and- it was so awkward, you know? And then,” Techie giggled a little, and Ben was surprised. “This guy at a table near us, he was just, like, drowning his pile of food in ketchup, like, holding the bottle straight down and squeezing like he was trying to kill it. And we both looked over and saw it and went, ‘ugh,’ and I made a face, and I look up and- and she’s making the same face, it was like, like looking in a mirror sort of. I always thought I looked so much like Armie, I didn’t notice...I look kind of like her, too? Anyway, I couldn’t help it, I started to laugh. And. I thought she might think I was making fun of her, I was scared but I couldn’t stop laughing, and then – she started laughing too!” Techie said it like it was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen. “And we just, like, sat there laughing, and then the waiter showed up with our food and looked at us like we were crazy, and…” There were tears in Techie’s eyes. Ben didn’t comment, but Techie noticed them anyway and rubbed his eyes quickly, trying and failing to be subtle about it. “And after that it was a little better. Still awkward, but...better.”_  

Hux listened to the story, incredulous. He was quiet for a long moment after, fingers dancing over Ben’s cheek. 

“That’s...good, I guess... It’s funny, I never thought of her as of… a person. Growing up I thought she was...shallow, stupid,” he admitted it a tad guiltily. “She was always just my father’s second wife to me, little more. And then later, of course, hated her for failing Techie.” 

Ben readjusted, peering up at his husband while he listened. When Hux’s hand stilled this time, he let it. 

“He married my mother when they were both very young.” Hux’s voice had grown quiet, wistful. “My mother always said he was...different, then. She told me she thought he really loved her, hard to imagine as that sounds. But he was power hungry, and she was a struggling artist with no money, no connections. He realized she wouldn’t get him anywhere, so he divorced her. But of course he made sure he’d get the sole custody of me.” He said this last part bitterly. 

“For several years he worked on his status and connections. Then he was introduced to Maratelle; she was only twenty-one, rather frail and ailing a lot as a child, home schooled and easily impressioned, born into money, a political dynasty of Senators - the sort of heiress who was raised being told she would one day marry a successful man and make sure the dynasty continued. She had Techie shortly after and was so clearly unprepared for motherhood. She passed him off to the nannies the first chance she got.” 

Hux sighed, his expression warring between angry and defeated. Some of this Ben knew already, some he didn’t. It didn’t matter; Hux needed to say it. Hux’s hand cupped his face as if he was holding onto it for support. 

“At first, my father was thrilled. He had a son with the-” he swallowed. “With the _right wife_. I may have been his firstborn, and just as bright as he needed me to be in order to follow in his footsteps, but I was also the product of a marriage he wished to forget. Not to mention I was scrawny, though that he supposed he could fix...” At this, Ben guided Hux’s hand up so he could kiss softly at his wrist. A silent but insistent message: _I love you, every bit of you, just as you are_. Hux’s other hand tightened in his hair gently, gratefully.  

“Techie was also a little premature, and he was...sickly, small. Our father was certain he would grow out of it and at first put all his resources into getting him the best medical care. But as Techie got older it became clear that he’d inherited more from Maratelle than our father hoped he would. He had allergies, needed glasses by the time he was in first grade, was diffident and frail. Father gave up on him. I think that’s when he truly started to hate us both: his “perfect” son born of the wrong wife, and his imperfect one born of the right one, neither of us what he felt entitled to. In the end he begrudgingly focused on my development, and Techie was brushed aside.” 

Hux took a shaky breath, like he was breathing around something heavy lodged in his throat. “If I- If I hadn’t been there, if he’d been raised by nannies and no one else, if he hadn’t…” Hux looked at Ben, then, his far-off gaze refocusing on him. “If he hadn’t met Rey, and I hadn’t met you, and your family...I hate to think what would have become of him. Of both of us.” 

Hux trembled slightly from the sudden outpouring of emotion, brought on in part by the wine kicking in and in part by the desperate need to let things out, to openly feel the things he too often repressed. 

Ben sat up slowly, pushing himself so that he sat right up against Hux’s legs, even as his own had to bend awkwardly to fit onto their couch. He wrapped his arms around Hux in the warm, enveloping way he knew Hux sometimes craved, pressing him against the back of the couch. He pressed several firm kisses into Hux’s hair. 

“You don’t have to worry about that,” he whispered. “They say it’s never too late to change. I wish it was right, this time, with Maratelle. Imagine what if she really comes around and realises there’s more to life than being the perfect housewife. Brendol will be so fucked…” 

A giggle burst out of Hux in spite of himself. He kept laughing, his face hidden in Ben’s shoulder, and like that, with the help of his husband’s gentle strength, a weight was lifted from him. They were alright, and Techie would be, too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update, guys! Life got in the way.
> 
> But since nobody asked for an update since we posted last chapter, guess everyone's been too busy to miss this too badly:)

Techie hurried down the street towards the flower shop, alternatively checking his watch and trying to peer above the heads of the crowd to catch a glimpse of familiar ginger colour. There. Walking leisurely from the other direction, Armie was heading for the shop too, with Ben trailing a few steps behind him and Rey talking and gesturing animatedly at his side. 

They agreed to meet here on Saturday morning to pick and order the flowers arrangement. Rey flat out refused to carry a bouquet so they agreed on a wrist corsage and matching boutonniere. Then Ben mentioned Leia’s upcoming birthday and upon learning where exactly Techie was planning to fetch the flowers, Armie’s got a mean glint to his eyes and said that it was General Sloane’s, his Academy mentor, forty years of service soon and that was how Techie got the backing he needed to face Miss Bazine again. 

What remained a mystery was the nature of the issue Bazine had with the Huxes. Techie all too well remembered the one time he had to deal with her and despite never having met her before, she already tried to trip him up. As he slowed down from his half-run and tried to get his breathing under control, he caught a scrap of murmured conversation: 

“...dated a fellow cadet at the time, big guy named Grummgar, all brawn, none of the brains, you know the type. Good at following orders but useless as officer material.” 

“Makes one wonder what he was doing in your course.” 

“His family was well connected. The Commandant tolerated him but Sloane hated his guts. The feeling was mutual and Grummgar used to try and bully me in an effort to get back at her.” 

Techie saw Ben squaring his shoulders and the slight narrowing of his eyes. Hux patted his arm with a little smile. 

“Try being the operative word. He was too daft to ever get to me. Quite ironically, his pathetic attempts resulted in him getting kicked off from the Academy in the end. Scholarship money gone, disgrace to the family and all that. Of course that little sponge Bazine was disappointed when the cash flow stopped.” 

Ben eyed the impressive display of flowers behind the shop window, took in the prestigious location in the city and shrugged. “She seems to be doing fine for herself. Hi Techie!” he greeted. 

Rey rushed over to Techie’s side and leaned in for a quick peck. “You’re late,” she told him. 

Techie bit the inside of his cheek. He’d been waiting for this opportunity for weeks now. “You’re stunning,” he replied, smooth tone cracking half-way through on an inevitable grin. 

Rey’s lips twitched in a losing battle against a giggle and she rolled her eyes. “I regret ever watching that movie with you.” 

“Hush you two,” Hux grinned, that steely glint still very much present in his eyes. “We have a job to do.” 

“Why do I get the feeling that she’s - that Bazine’s going to try and settle an old score?” Techie whispered to Rey as they entered, shoulder brushing over the overhanging stalks of green calas. 

“If she tries, I’m going to enjoy watching Armitage chew her and spit out the pieces,” Rey whispered back. 

“I got a bad feeling about this,” sighed Techie. He hated confrontations.

 

*

 

Half an hour later they left the shop, leaving behind a quietly seething Miss Bazine and an order for simple corsage and boutonniere arrangement of buttercups, roses and ivy. Ben had placed an order for a bouquet of star-shaped dahlias, his mother’s favourite, to be delivered in time for her birthday, and Hux was brandishing an impressive arrangement of roses like a spoil of war. 

“Orange buttercup for joy, white rosebuds for youth and innocence and ivy for steadfastness,” Rey recited, ticking off on her fingers. After their first run-in with Bazine’s spiteful streak, Rey made sure she came prepared. Techie was impressed. 

“As if I needed more orange on me,” he joked, shaking his head. Rey reached out and twirled one of the loose strands around her finger with an affectionate smile. 

“I’m afraid none of the flower colors will ever be as beautiful as this,” she said. 

“Look at her. The sweet talk is strong with your family,” Hux chuckled behind her, nudging Ben’s side. 

“Yeah, and the blush is strong with yours,” Ben didn’t miss a beat with his reply. Techie ducked his chin in a futile attempt to hide his blush and groaned. 

“This is karma for getting you two together, I swear.” 

“So you keep saying,” Rey said, a little distractedly. She was still playing with the strand of Techie’s hair and Techie tried not to appear too eager in leaning towards her so that she could keep doing that. 

“I was thinking… your hair isn’t actually orange, well, maybe in certain lighting, but, it’s more like gold, or copper, or even honey… um, what I am trying to say is,” and now she was blushing too, “I’d love to have one of your flowers in my corsage. You know, the wire ones you make. I loved the ones you gave me for Christmas that year Armie got back from Iraq, and - and they wouldn’t wither, and it would be more… you, I mean–” 

Techie silenced the ramble with a bird-like press of lips against Rey’s that was over before he even realised he was going to do it. “I’d love to,” he added, a bit breathless, as if it weren’t obvious. 

Rey beamed. And then her eyes widened even more, her eyes fixated on to something behind Techie’s shoulder and her beaming smile got a definitely sharp-toothy quality to it. Techie turned his head to follow her gaze. Oh. The bakery. 

“Hmmmm,” she began, and as on cue, her brother finished: “Guys, I’m starving.” Techie snorted to himself. The Solos were always hungry. It made sense with 6’3’’ Ben but where was Rey putting all the calories? 

He remembered this one - they’d stepped in with Rey that day they also went for flowers to Bazine, and Techie’s head was still so reeling with his realization that he was in love with Rey that he didn’t even mind they hadn’t anything he could eat that day. Two years later, and the shop’s offer hadn’t changed a bit. Rey must have remembered too, because she halted abruptly in the doorway, fumbling around in her bag - the little bell above her head still jingling - and then she pressed a gluten-free, dairy-free carrot cake flavoured protein bar into his palm. 

“I’m not gorging myself while you starve,” she explained and then stuffed her mouth with an enormous sprinkled donut that Ben just bought. Hux threw one look at her and wordlessly gave over the one Ben bought for him. She accepted it with grace - that of course meaning - with two more bites, and the second donut followed its lost brother. 

Techie happily munched on his carrot cake bar and watched her devour one more donut before she finally rubbed her belly with a satisfied sigh. Then she took one good look around and a faint smile settled on her sprinkles-smudged lips. 

“You know,” she said in a low voice, clearly meant only for Techie, “this place was where I realised I had it for you rather badly.” 

Techie nearly choked on his mouthful. “You did?” 

She nodded. “You were telling me how you never had any sweets - and I realised I didn’t _pity_ you but that I _admired_ you and that the archenemy bullshit was voided anyway a long time ago and that I really, really liked you–” 

“I already knew,” Techie blurted out. Immediately, Rey’s sweet expression turned irate. 

“You _did?_ And you let me–” 

“I didn’t know _you_ liked _me_ ,” Techie hurried with the correction. “I knew I liked _you._ Since that ghastly flower shop, actually. You had a bunch of hyacinths in your hands and sunlight in your hair–” 

Techie’s ramble was interrupted by a loud click of his brother’s tongue. He looked over to see Hux extending a hand to Ben, palm up, with a cat-got-the-cream smirk on his face. 

“I believe you said a twenty,” he told Ben, his tone dripping with sweetness. 

Ben, on his part, groaned and glared in Rey’s direction even as he was fishing out his wallet again. “Traitor,” he muttered, “I believed in you.” 

“Were they really...” 

“... betting on us,” Techie finished Rey’s disbelieving question. 

“That’s what you get for not telling us who asked who to prom,” Hux concluded, shining with triumph, twenty bucks disappearing into his pocket.

 

*

 

Days seemed to race by. Techie no longer had to mutter “one, two, three” under his breath when he concentrated on waltz. He’s had two more lunches with his mother and somehow they didn’t go bad. After the second one, Maratelle gave him a shirt so brilliantly blue that Techie could not tell a difference from Rey’s dress in the tone. He didn’t know what had possessed him in that moment but he found himself inviting her to see them off. To Solos house. 

“If you have time, I mean,” he wavered when he realised what he was doing. “We weren’t planning on taking any pictures but if you wanted...” 

He was still learning how to unlearn to be surprised that she agreed. That she wanted. 

Rey - or maybe Ben -  must have warned their parents beforehand because the Solos seemed to be taking Maratelle’s appearance in stride. Han had offered her a drink while Leia was busydoing Rey’s hair or whatever was going on in Rey’s room. Techie could only hear the occasional giggle and the odd clatter of heels echoing in short staccato bursts from upstairs. He thumbed his boutonniere, trying to hide his nerves. What was taking so long? It was, after all, only a dress… 

Then Rey descended the stairs and Techie nearly swallowed his own tongue. Oh, it was so much more than just a dress… it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. 

Rey twirled around, the blue skirt flowing around her in rich waves, and then cocked her hip with one hand stuck casually in the dress pocket. Head held high, star-shaped earrings matching the dress’ lace pattern, hair pulled up into a glossy braid running around her brow like a crown - only the slight blush belied her regal appearance, letting on that she was quite possibly just as nervous as Techie was. 

“Well?” 

“I… have no words,” Techie admitted defeat. 

“Let’s hope you’ve got at least the moves,” Rey quipped and linked her arm with his. On her wrist, the copper wire flower gleamed amongst the live ones. 

“My baby sister’s all grown up,” Ben sighed. Rey shot him an alarmed look. 

“You’re not going to cry while driving us, are you?” 

“Savage,” Ben muttered and then grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m driving. ‘Tidge over there is taking care of the crying.” 

Hux shot him a tight-lipped murder glare, a somewhat diminished one because of the guilty red tinge to his eyelids. But just as he was opening his mouth for a lethal retort, Maratelle sniffed. 

The entire room froze. Maratelle was hiding her face behind her tablet and seemed determined to fiddle with the camera settings. 

“Oh,” Techie said - the most intelligent thing for the moment, at least in his humble opinion - and then walked over to her to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. 

“Thanks, mom,” he said and went back to take Rey’s hand. The dance night was about to begin.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr: [squire](http://sinningsquire.tumblr.com/) | [frapandfurious](http://obsessions-and-dreams.tumblr.com/)


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